Communication networks include one or more optical fibers that carry one or more optical signals. It is often very important to monitor the optical signals to determine the wavelengths of the optical signals and/or the power of the optical signals. With this information, the communication network can be adjusted to improve the performance.
In addition, monitoring optical signals to determine the wavelength(s) of the optical signals is key in the context of spectroscopy. In general, spectroscopy involves analyzing the wavelength(s) of different types of visible and invisible light to detect the molecular content or structural information of a substance being analyzed, or for other suitable purposes known to those skilled in the art. Various types of spectroscopy include absorption spectroscopy (i.e. ultraviolet, visible and/or infrared spectroscopy), emission spectroscopy (i.e. fluorescence spectroscopy) and scattering spectroscopy (i.e. Raman spectroscopy), as non-exclusive examples.
Unfortunately, existing means for monitoring optical signals are relatively expensive to manufacture, relatively large in size, difficult to operate, sensitive to temperature changes, and/or not very accurate. Further, existing methods for monitoring optical signals cannot be easily expanded to monitor multiple channels.